The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-04-28
SOLDIERS SUPERSTITIONS.
Charms That Were Thought Eflcaeious
Against the Bullets of the Enemy,

SOLDIERS SUPERSTITIONS.
Charms That Were Thought Emcaeious
! Against the Bullets of the Enemy
As to whether the confederate SOL
dier was any more superstitious than
/ the federal | neither admit nor DENY,
! but L think the same superstitions in
regard to battle probably prevailed to
an equal extent on both sides. We NAV
laugh at them now, but we once ac-
cepted and pinned our faith to them.
The lirst instance to come under my
observation was at Gaines Mill. L was
then serving with an Alabama regi-
ment, and on the morning of the day
on which we were making our coffee at
the early camp fire l heard a sort of
groan from cOmrade, and as l turn
ed to look at him noticed that he was
staring into his coffee-pot with some
thing like terror, while his face was
deathly pale.
''What is itP" 1 asked.
81 shall be killed to-day" he groan-
ed out
''Fudgel We don't know that even
single musket will be fired"
II dreamed last night" he whisper
ed, ''that 1 looked down upon sheet
of water whose surface was covered
with bubbles, and amid them saw nv
own dead face. l shall be shot before
night"
ridiculed the idea and brought I'D
others to assist me, but the only reply
to our railery was sad shake of the
head. He was a believer in dreams,
and he certainly felt that his last day
had come. In place of eating his
breakfast he scribbled off letter to
his mother and intrusted it to q COM
rade. In little time we got the order
to march, and before noon nay regi-
ment was thrown forward to uncover
a portion of the federal line. The first
missile sent to us was a solid shot from
a field piece, and it struck the Young
soldier in the chest and cut him fairly
in two without injuring another man.
Not another man was even wounded
for the next ten minutes. The night !
before Burnside crossed at Fredericks- |
burg second lieutenant in Virginia |
regiment received, with hundreds of |
others, some mail from the regimental |
bag. | carried the pack of twenty or
thirty letters over the officers quarters |
and handed it to this lieutenant. The
top letter was for him, and on one of |
the letters was a red STAIN 1t looked |
like blood, but was probably ink. He
no sooner saw it than he became great
ly affected, and said:
81 shall be the first officer out of the
regiment killed to-morrowi'
I hnar.l 6,1n,
him, but ha became silent and serious,
and finally walked away by himself.
We were down on the right, where the
first federal attack was made. Our
regiment was using long and deep
land furrow as riie-pit, and the adj
vancing line of blue had just come
within range when bullet struck the
lieutenant in the head, killing him in
stantly. 1t came from the front and
was probably from some sharpshooter,
but it was afterward agreed that the
officer who was killed was, perhaps,
the least exposed of any.
There was a superstition in my regi-
ment that any one who went into bat
tie with the foot of a rabbit tied around
his neck was safe. This was all right,
and rabbits feet were at high premi-
um for two or three weeks. My brig
ade was then pushed ahead on a recon
naissance, bumped up against the
1anks, and we not only got severely |
thrashed, but we lost good many
men. Out of the seventy men in my
company presume that thirty had the
talisman. 1t so happened that the |
three killed belonged to this lucky set, |
and next day rabbits feet took de- |
cldcd fall in price.
| was for time a brigadier's order |
ly. His supposition was that he would |
be safe from bullets as long as he rode |
a chestnut horse. In the first battle |
into which 1 followed him his chestnut |
was shot, and, of course, | hustled to |
bring him up another. Mine was
coal black, and the only one which I |
could get for him was roam. He didn't |
seem to notice the difference until the |
action was over, and then got terri
BILE rating. In the second battle he |
had a chestnut, and even before our
line came under fire bullet crippled |
the horse and another hit my super
stitious general in the thigh and left |
him to limp through life on short |
leg. personally knew other officers |
who felt safe on roans, bays, blacks, |
and even whites, but they sooner OF |
later discovered that they had pinned |
their faith to a rule which had excep- |
tions.
| remember that just before Grant |
attacked Lee in the Wilderness, and |
while | was at brigade headquarters, a |
hen, of which there was a large flock |
about the yard, scratched up a steel |
button. A sergeant of cavalry at once |
dismounted and secured it, and when I |
asked what use he could put it to he |
replied:
Il will drop it into the ear of my |
colonel's horse just before the next bat |
tie, and no harm will come to either of |
them"
But what fetish can there be in
steel button?"
'sOh, it isn't so much in the button |
as in the hen scratching it up before |
my eyes"
but why not try it in your own
ITO be lucky it must be given to
somebody else"
l laughed at him and he got SO mad
that we nearly came to blows. l met |
him week later, having saber cut
on his head, and asked him how the
fetish worked.
''Must have been a growing hen
which scratched it up" he replied.
The colonel and twenty of our men
were killed the day after saw YOU"
Detroit Free Press.